Seaweed resources of Korea

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Korea has a long history of utilizing seaweeds, as the country has a high biodiversity of seaweeds. The abundance and composition of seaweed species have changed over the past decades due to climate change and anthropogenic influences. Some species showed a significant extension of their distribution range to the north while some species declined. Some areas have even become barren ground. Korea has put extensive effort into restoring the seaweed resources in these deforested areas. Korea is one of the most advanced countries in the World in terms of seaweed aquaculture. However, the aquacultured species are mostly limited to three genera, <jats:italic>Saccharina</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Undaria</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Pyropia/Porphyra</jats:italic>, which represent 96% of the entire seaweed production in the country. Korea has developed highly advanced cultivation technologies as well as various cultivars using breeding and hybridization technologies for these species. There has also been considerable effort in developing environmentally sustainable aquaculture systems using seaweed cultivation (e. g. integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, nutrient bioextraction and biofloc). This study discusses the current status and challenges of the above mentioned topics in detail. In addition, the present study encourages South and North Korean scientists to collaborate in the study of seaweed resources at the border of these two countries.</jats:p>

Overview of global Gracilaria production, the role of biosecurity policies and regulations in the sustainable development of this industry

“…The production of G. chorda was approximately 1769 tonnes (FW) in 2019 and increased two‐fold in 2020 6,55 . The other native Korean agarophytes Gracilaria vermiculophylla also have the potential for large‐scale cultivation, however, production still remains low compared with other seaweeds 55,56 (e.g., Pyropia , Porphyra , Undaria and Saccharina ). The key characteristics of Gracilaria aquaculture in each of the main producing countries have been depicted in Table 1.…”

Sargassumin C, a Novel Butenolide from Sargassum micracanthum

“…The CHCl 3 -soluble portion was mixed with the EtOAc-soluble portion due to their similar HPLC profiles. The combined extract was subjected to medium-pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC) eluting with ACN/H 2 O (10:90 to 100:0) to obtain sub-fractions (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6). Sub-fraction 1 was further separated by MPLC, followed by semi-HPLC eluting with 30% ACN in water to give compound 1 (2.0 mg).…”

“…1 Sargassum micracanthum (Kutzing) Endlicher is a member of the family Sargassaceae, which comprises about 193 species. 2 The species has a coriaceous thallus up to 50 cm in length and grows on rocks in the low intertidal to upper subtidal zones of open coasts. 3 Previous studies have reported that Sargassum species contain compounds with various biological activities, such as anti-oxidative, cholinesterase inhibitory, neuroprotective, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-viral activities.…”

“…[4][5][6][7] The compounds include chromanes, chromenes, meroterpenoids, farnesylactones, and plastoquinones. [8][9][10][11] Chemical investigation of a methanol extract of S. micracanthum led to the isolation of one novel butenolide (1) and a known compound (2). All isolates were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activities on nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 cells and pro-inflammatory cytokines.…”

Financial and Institutional Support Are Important for Large-Scale Kelp Forest Restoration

“…The project focuses on deploying concrete artificial reefs in areas with low urchin density (Jeon et al, 2015) in combination with juvenile kelp transplants, seeding (spore bags), and/or urchin removal, and subsequent monitoring. As of 2019, reefs and transplants were deployed over an area of approximately 21,489 ha (Park et al, 2019;Hwang et al, 2020) with a survival rate of ∼50% (Jeon, 2019, personal communication). Artificial reefs were originally used because the agency believed that transplanting kelp onto rock covered by crustose coralline algae would limit success, but new methods are being developed to deploy transplants onto natural rocky reefs.…”